Although I have since sold it, my first embroidery machine was a Janome Skyline S9, sewing/embroidery combo, purchased in 2017. Bought on spec because ”machine embroidery sounded like the kind of thing I might like”, I hedged my bets by thinking that if I didn’t like it, at least I would have a large 9mm sewing machine. Frustration at only being able to do one thing at a time (i.e. sew OR embroider) and a growing adoration of embroidery, led to the purchase of an MC500e embroidery only machine around a year later. When Janome brought out the MC550e, I upgraded to their latest embroidery only offering at the end of 2019. The larger hoop size was the clincher - because size does matter.
I upgraded from the CM7 to the CM8 in 2023 and was surprised how much better overall the CM8 is. While designed for quilters - and it is superb for this purpose - the addition of the stitch regulator is great for free motion embroidery.
Lockdown in 2020 also proved the genesis of my Stitch Sampling Class series. The first class took place in August that year. As neither the S9 nor the CM7P lent themselves to easy transport, after running class 1 and before class 2, I decided to buy a small, light, easily handled machine that I could take to the class venue. One of the conceptual assertions of the Sampling classes is that you can do a lot with very little. I needed a machine that had a limited number of decorative stitches, but still gave me access to technical features I really like: speed control; start/stop button; needle up/down button; lock stitch etc etc What has blown me away about this model is the stitch formation. It is of course a 7mm machine but the stitches are perfectly formed. It doesn’t skip a beat and does GREAT free motion embroidery to boot. My students also used it during class and deemed it a winner!
Although I’d bought a Janome MyLock 644D in 2019, it had had minimal use. I found the threading daunting and horrendously time consuming. During the pandemic Janome America and Janome Canada really got cracking with consumer education. Their educators have clocked up hours and hours of video showcasing machines, old & new and demonstrating techniques and projects. I thank them all very much. They’re amazing - patient and inventive people who upskilled themselves, often with help enlisted from family members, to bring education to the masses via Facebook and YouTube. After watching AT2000D videos, I decided it was a better bet time-wise. The air thread system is great.
With the kind permission of the lovely Emma Wigginton, I used a couple of her YouTube videos for reference purposes in my Stitch Sampling classes. Emma is a UK textile artist, who uses free motion embroidery and an embellisher. She has a great YouTube channel (check it out here). Thinking it looked like fun, I initially bought a second hand Janome Embellisher in September 2020. I went on to purchase a new one in winter 2021.
This latest model coverstitch incorporates a topcover stitch. So many decorative possibilites and a good range of attachments including a tape binder.
The 6700P is my latest sewing acquisition. To all intents and purposes the little sister of the M7, I bought it predominantly for free motion embroidery, it has turned out to be much better than I could have hoped. Not quite as fast or as large as the M7 it is just as wonderfully powerful and stable. A great combo for free motion work.
The 1055x 10 needle embroidery machine is one of two Brother models that bridge the gap between domestic and commercial machines. The commercial aspect lends itself to flexibility of use and a wide range of hooping options. In this case the deciding factor wasn’t the size of the hoop but the move away from constant rethreading and the ability to better handle large items. The live camera and scanning tech have made larger scale work possible for me. And because of their international ubiquity there is a wide range of after-market hooping and attachment options.